What is a workflow

In Data Mover, a workflow is a sequence of tasks achieving a specific goal. Workflows play a crucial role in the creation of contracts, as each contract action must be linked to a specific workflow.

Workflows are initialized based on the values defined in the contract actions. For instance, the workflow named system_newFile_push requires a virtual path where the file will arrive. When configuring the contract action, this field will be filled in with the name of a virtual file system and the virtual path, e.g., "VFS_NASA" and "/2025/January/missions."

Workflows have three key components:

1. Triggers: they define when an instance of the workflow template should be created, specifying the event that initiates the workflow. This could include occurrences such as the arrival of a file, a specific point in time, or an on-demand trigger via an API.

2. Service Tasks: they define the actions designed in the workflow template.

3. Variables: they are the values that will be initialized in the single actions of the contracts, thus allowing the same workflow template to be reused across different contracts.